As head of the West Midlands Strategic Health Authority Ms Bower was responsible for Stafford hospital, where hundreds died from poor care, but she later said it “wasn’t on my radar”.

After missing the scandal, she was promoted in November 2011, while still chief executive, to non-executive board member of the Skills for Health organisation, which works to improve staff skills in the health sector.

She received an honorary extra payment of £7,000 a year.

Dame Jo Williams, chairman, accused colleague of being mentally ill

Dame Jo Williams resigned as Chairman of the CQC last September after she was accused of trying to discredit a whistleblower by saying she was mentally ill.

When whistleblower Kay Sheldon alleged the watchdog was failing to spot poor treatment of patients in care homes and hospitals, Dame Jo tried to have her sacked.

She questioned Ms Sheldon’s mental health, subjecting her to a mental health assessment and asked the then Health Secretary Andrew Lansley to “immediately” suspend and “urgently” replace her.

Dame Jo, who reportedly earned £60,000 a year, later admitted it was “inappropriate” to have commissioned a psychiatric assessment of Ms Sheldon without consulting her.

She said she regretted the way she dealt with the incident and admitted it was one factor in her decision to leave after a "difficult year".

However, she defended her efforts to get rid of Ms Sheldon, claiming the whistleblower should have made formal complaints rather than speaking out in public about her concerns.

Ms Sheldon remained on the board of the CQC, after the Health Secretary decided she should stay in her post.

Tony Halsall, director, paid thousands after leaving

Tony Halsall, who resigned from a struggling hospital trust, was still paid £225,000 a year after leaving his Chief Executive role.

Mr Halsall, 66, resigned from his post at University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust in February last year at the height of the scandal.

A replacement was hired but he was still paid his £150,000-a-year salary when he moved to become an “associate director” at the NHS Confederation.

During his three-year tenure at the trust, it was investigated over the deaths of seven babies.

It also received warnings from the Care Quality Commission and had some of the highest death rates in the country, but Mr Halsall was still paid a year’s salary and £75,000 for six months’ notice.

He was never publicly accused of poor performance and when he resigned he said: “I believe that considerable progress has been made in recent months to address a number of issues the trust faces, but I recognise that it is now appropriate for the lead to be taken by a new chief executive.”

Directors paid substantial redundancy pay

Over the past six months several other senior CQC directors have left with substantial redundancy packages.

They are Amanda Sherlock, director of operations, Louise Guss, the director of legal services and Allison Beal, the director of human resources.

All were on salaries of between £110,000 and £145,000 and joined the organisation in 2009 and 2010. They will have received one month's pay for every year's service, amounting to packages worth around £30,000 each.

Contrary to an earlier version of this report Jill Finney, former director of communications, was not one of the senior CQC directors that left with a substantial redundancy package.